Two weeks to catch up on

There is rather a lot to talk about this time as I haven’t written the blog for 2 weeks. This is for a couple of reasons – the first being I was without a computer for a few days when it decided to stop working for no apparent reason. But the second and more important reason is Lauren has been sick. She is all better now but had a bad cold and croup and so the poor little thing has been under the weather and not sleeping or feeding well. Which also means we don’t sleep well or get to rest much during the day as lots of cuddles were needed. So, it’s been a tiring few days but we’re all okay now and it’s good to see Lauren smiling again.

However the last 2 weeks didn’t start like this, so let me tell you what the little lady has been up to over her 14th and 15th week in this world.

Hands – taken for granted by most of us, have become the most fascinating thing in the world to Lauren. In fact, just one in particular, her right one. She has been staring at it now for a week and half, it all started by moving it back and forward like a break dancer or orchestra conductor in front of her face. And this week she has moved onto watching her fingers open and close. In fact there was a major breakthrough on Friday when for a brief moment she discovered she has a left hand too, as she watched herself continuously grab and let go of my finger. But the moment was brief and the next day she had completely forgotten about her left side and was back to staring at the right. The intense look on her face is quite amusing and every morning I unwrap her out of bed she looks straight at her hand like she’s never seen it before.

Of course, when Lauren wasn’t sick we were busy seeing friends and new places. We visited Jon and Amy in Collaroy and asked them to be Lauren's godparents. They happily agreed and then Lauren enjoyed hanging out and had some good cuddle time with them both. We’ve also been for a walk around Centennial Park with Helena & Rory and Belinda and Jude – these are friends and their babies from our antenatal class, also known as bump buddies. Lauren is the oldest although she wasn’t supposed to be of course! It’s great comparing notes with the other mums and everyone found Lauren's fascination with her hands very amusing.


As Lauren continues to grow, at 14 weeks she was 5.5kg and 61cms, we’ve had to revise both the bath and bed situations. Lauren has now graduated to the full cot (no need for the bassinet any more). And the original baby bath is now too small. We tried the sink but that didn’t work and so Daddy kindly went and bought her ladyship a big new one with a seat. She continues to love bath time, but her favourite is when she is in the big tub with her Daddy.

The fortnight finished on a very different note. With Lauren smiling lots and eating lots. I’m not sure if it was a growth spurt or whether she was making up for not eating much for three days but boy can this girl eat. We went from feeding every 3-4 hours to every 2. Thankfully this only lasted three days as I don’t think I could keep up.

All the pics from the last couple of weeks are available here. It will be another fortnight before I can write again as our Australian baby (yes her Aussie passport arrived this week much to Blair’s disgust) is on her way to NZ at the end of next week to meet all her family and friends on the other side of the ditch. We'll update you on how our first flight goes when we're back home!

Thank god for grandparents

With the week starting on a bad note (in last week’s blog I mentioned that Lauren was on hunger strike and I was sick), Gran and Granddad Cooke cancelled their flight back to NZ and stayed on for the week to help out. I had forgotten how good it is to have the extra sets of hands around the place!

Lauren was well looked after, with some extra walks in the park, some great kicking time in the bouncer seat (she has finally realised she has feet) and lots of chatting to Gran whilst being read stories. We had a very contented and angelic baby on our hands and with Gran’s magic touch she was even settling during the witching hour.

Now, Lauren is a little camera shy – strange considering she must be the most photographed and filmed baby in the world. But whenever she sees the camera come out she goes silent, stops doing what she is doing immediately and stares transfixed at the camera. From that point on there is no chance of a smile. This finally worked in our favour when we had to go and get Lauren’s passport photo done. We lay her on the floor on a white sheet and she looked straight down the lens and didn’t smile one bit. The man in the shop said it was the quickest baby passport photo he had ever done!

We said goodbye to Gran and Grandad Cooke on Saturday morning and hoped that Lauren wouldn’t miss all the extra attention and cuddles too much. To help take her mind of it, we went for a walk up to Potts Point and put her in the pram in the "grown-up" seat. Now Lauren has better head control, she can sit and face outwards and take in the world. We dressed her in the coat that Lavinia had bought her and looked so cute. It feels weird to be walking down the street and not being able to see her, but I think she enjoyed it...until she went to sleep that is.

In the afternoon I realised just how lucky I was that Lauren was early...and small. At our antenatal class reunion that day we were introduced to some BIG babies. Admittedly all the other babies from our class are boys which means they are naturally bigger but Lauren looked tiny compared to a 5-week old boy who is already 7kg!!

It was great to see everyone again and compare notes and of course Lauren was on her best behaviour as she hung out with everyone and then had a little nap in her pram - no settling required. To say we were the envy of a few of the parents would be an understatement.

We ended the week with a trip to Lauren’s favourite pub, The Lord Dudley. As a regular she was pretty relaxed, had a little snooze and swapped drinks for cuddles with a few of Blair’s uni friends. But we couldn’t stay long as we were finishing the cold, rainy Sunday with a roast dinner with Abi and Joe.

Never the one to miss out, Lauren refused to sleep while we had guests. No matter how hard Blair, Abi or I tried to settle her, she would not sleep in her room and so she joined us at the dinner table in her bouncer seat. That night she continued to be pretty unsettled and Dad ended up having to sleep on the sofa bed in her room with her for an hour to settle her to sleep. But he doesn't mind and secretly I think he likes it...

Photos from this week are here.

Like mother, like daughter

It’s amazing that even at 11 weeks old someone’s personality can be so strong. Lauren showed us this week just how determined she can be when she sets her mind to it. I wonder where she gets that from…

On Monday Lauren decided that she was in the mood for cuddles (which I never mind) and so, since she was determined not to lie down all alone, we spent most of the day with Lauren in my arms. Even a visit to see Sophie and Jack in the afternoon didn’t change her mood and so we cuddled up together on their sofa too. 

Tuesday saw a very chilled Lauren, who was happy to lie around on her own, chat to her teddies and hang out with Sandy and Edward. She slept when she was supposed to and like any lady in training conserved her energy for an afternoon of shopping, coffee and cake.  

Wednesday was the day she decided to be a show-off. In the afternoon we went to our usual class at the hospital and this week we were talking about motor development in babies. Taryn who takes the course, asked if she could borrow Lauren as she was awake (of course she was, she’s always awake in the afternoon) to demonstrate “tummy time”. Not only did Lauren demonstrate marvellously how easy it is to lie on your belly and lift your head and shoulders, she also rolled from her belly to her back, showing off in front of all the other babies. We’d never seen her do it before and she just took it all in her stride like it was nothing new.

Roz and Terry (aka Gran and Grandad) arrived on Friday which we had really been looking forward to. Lauren, who had been missing the attention of Grandad Paul and his camera, was pleased at the arrival of another photographer and posed beautifully for the camera. Most of the great shots from this week come courtesy of Terry.

On Saturday we all headed out for another party, this time to celebrate Jack’s first birthday, and Lauren put on her social hat. She was all dressed up in her party dress and put on her best smile for the crowd. She had cuddles from everyone and then slept soundly in the baby Bjorn cuddled up to her favourite man - Daddy.

That evening Lauren stayed in with the grandparents as Blair and I went out for dinner for our wedding anniversary. It was her first time alone with them and she was determined to make the most of the opportunity…staying awake and watching the footy until Mummy and Daddy came home.

 

On Sunday our young lady became a little madam and we had a glimpse of the battles we may face in the years ahead. Suddenly, for no particular reason, Lauren decided to stage a ‘hunger strike’. She point blank refused to feed, despite being starving, and screamed whenever I tried to feed her. We only managed to convince her to feed by giving her the dummy and when she had relaxed, quickly replacing it with my breast!

Monday was a public holiday and Gran and Grandad were due to fly out in the evening. However Lauren’s hunger strike continued and I came down with a nasty tummy bug so the wonderful grandparents offered to cancel their flights and stay until next week. With two more pairs of hands to help how could we say no, so we gratefully accepted. Blair is already planning the chores for his mum and dad! 

All the photos from this week are available here.